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Monday, July 1, 2013

Les Petits Secrets : DIY COLORED BAKER’S TWINE

I’m what you might call a simple kind of lady. My personal care routine is about as straightforward as it gets; I prefer the quiet company of friends and loved ones in intimate settings to the wild riot of the city; and I drink my coffee by the gallon, with cold milk straight out of a blender and nothing else. That said, I do like a bit of flourish this time of year, especially if it comes in the form of a cleverly adorned package... All for a rainy day !

Whenever I receive a package that comes with a creative embellishment or decorative presentation, I’m completely smitten. Since the festive season is seriously upon us.. Rakhi, Ganesh, Navratri and before you know it Diwali, a bit of DIY decor of my own is in order. For today’s Les Petits Secrets, I’m sharing my method for creating colored baker’s twine. With a few tools, you’ll be turning out skein after skein of decorative twine, in any color combination you see fit. Simple, yes. But stunning, too?

Read the full post after the jump . . .

Considering the cost of commercially available colored twine and how long it could take to have it shipped to you in time for holiday gifting, making your own twine at home is the win-win solution. You save money, get to trick out your twine in whatever color (or color combination) you please and the whole project is completed in less than 30 minutes. The finished product will have a flecked look, not the regulated, mechanical look of commercially manufactured twine. But that’s part of its appeal, I think. The rusticity offered by do-it-yourself colored twine makes your finished package feel so genuine and sincere.

Giving a Raksha Bandhan gift? Color your twine blue and silver, boy colours. Got a niece who can’t get enough purple in her life? Pull out your plum hues and get busy. Have a pal who loves the season’s festivities and merriment but likes a darker palette? Black twine it is! Everyone wins with this twine, folks. Everyone.

Colored Baker’s Twine

The Goods

kitchen twine, any width

scotch tape

scissors

cardboard

colored markers

ruler

The Deal

1. Begin by cutting a piece of cardboard about 4″ wide and 6″ to 8″ long.

2. Cut a length of kitchen twine. The length you cut will depend on the amount of a given color you’d like to have on hand. I used anywhere from 2 feet to 2 yards for each batch of twine I made.

3. Use a small bit of tape to affix the twine to the top of the cardboard on one side.

4. Begin to wind the twine around the wide part of the cardboard. Hold the cardboard with your dominant hand, using your other hand to wrap the twine.

5. Push the twine together as you wind, keeping each strand right against the one above it. It shouldn’t be so tight that there’s no wiggle room, but it also shouldn’t be so loose that it slides.

6. When you’ve wound as much twine as you’d like to use on a given color (or color combo, as it may be), cut the twine from the spool. Use a bit of tape to attach it to the bottom portion of the cardboard.

7. Using the ruler as a guide, draw a line with a colored marker from the top of the twine down the length of the cardboard to where the twine ends.

8. Continue making equidistant parallel lines all the way across the width of cardboard. If you’d like to use a second color, using the ruler, repeat steps 7–8, filling in the exposed white twine between each line created by the first batch of colored lines.

9. Flip over the piece of cardboard and repeat steps 7–8.

10. Remove the pieces of tape. Unravel the twine, flip it over and repeat steps 3–8.

What about you? Got any simple yet lovely go-to decor tricks and tips for making packages gorgeous? I’d love to hear them. A little extra something something this time of year can make a world of difference.